City’s squad is easily the strongest in the league and signing Sanchez would have been an extravagant addition to a side that is already 12 points clear, but you can be sure Pep won’t be happy to see him strutting his stuff on the other side of town.

The only thing that could take his mind off things would be two signings that would make the blue side of Manchester even stronger.

According to Goal, City have ramped up their pursuit of Shakhtar Dontesk’s midfielder Fred and Atletic Bilbao centre back Aymeric Laporte in what would be an impressive reaction to missing out on the former Gunner.

It’s reported that the City hierarchy want both players to join the club this month and it would set them back around £100million for the pair.

23-year-old Bilbao defender Laporte had initially agreed to join City back in 2016 but pulled out at the last minute, however the club is now confident if he agrees to a deal they can activate his €65 million release clause.

However it appears that Laporte would face a difficult decision of leaving his boyhood club in the middle of the season with them 12th in the league.

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